Huawei Technologies Co, which has provided technologies for telecom facilities in Tonga, said the island nation is expected to resume international voice communications this week.

Huawei's branch in the Philippines which is responsible of its business in Tonga said the massive eruption of an underwater volcano off Tonga has damaged the local communication facilities in the nation to a certain extent.

Huawei said it is now able to reach local partners in Tonga via satellite phones, and local telecom operators are scrambling to repair communication facilities, and the focus of the repair work is to restore satellite data services to help Tonga reconnect to the internet as soon as possible and restore voice communication.

Tonga's submarine communication fiber optic cables may be difficult to repair in the short term due to damage caused by the volcanic eruption, Huawei added.